Need August Writing Prompts for a New School Term?

Harness your students' creative energies with engaging August writing prompts! Jumpstart a new school semester by including many of these narrative ideas in your creative writing lesson plans. Browse through this list to choose topics for immediate use. Click below to print individual copies for student use or to make an overhead transparency for the classroom.

You are the neighborhood mad scientist. Describe your latest monster, project, or experiment.

What do you do to relax? Discuss several ways that work for you. What do members of your family do to relax?

What are your greatest dreams for your country?

You are supervising an archeological dig for a major research museum. One sweltering afternoon, you uncover the greatest scientific find of the century! What is it? What happens?

On a mountain hiking trip, you encounter boulders, logs, rickety bridges, and gullies on the trail to the campsite. At the end of the path, you discover something truly wonderful and remarkable! What is it? Explain!

Describe an exciting championship game!

What was the silliest thing you ever did? Were you embarrassed?

You've created the latest fashion trend! How has it made you famous?

Imagine that someone in your family is living a secret life and is really a famous movie star! Who would it be? How would life be different once you'd discovered your relative's secret?

You are a copywriter for the newspaper. Your assignment: create convincing ads for these items: mail-order snowballs, apple cores, shoes for cats, mismatched socks, skunk cologne, and used matches. Include prices and any "selling" points.

"News Flash! Radio Messages Received from Pluto!" Make up an article to go with this headline.

In your opinion, what is the most useless object? Give reasons as to why you think so?

Tell a midnight adventure. Include these details: a long, dark hall, a creaking door, a flickering light, strange tapping, a ticking clock, and a shrill scream.

You are a raccoon in the park. You find an unattended picnic basket. What do you do? What escapades result from your decision?

Create a tall tale about a strong man who eats rocks!

Create a tall tale about the hottest (or coldest!) day ever! Make it a whopper!

Suppose the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria had termites! How did Columbus solve that problem and arrive in the New World?

You entered the Fabulous Cake Contest. However, you do not notice the misprint in your recipe! Into the ingredients, you put_____. What happens as a result of the mistake?

You have a friend who has never seen nor put together a jigsaw puzzle. Create a specific definition of the term "jigsaw puzzle." Then outline step-by-step instructions for how to put one together.

Who is your favorite character from fiction? What do you think will happen to this character five years after the end of the novel? What do you predict this character will be doing in ten years? Fifteen years? Based upon your knowledge of this character, give reasons for your thought.

You are allowed to place five items into a time capsule which will be opened one hundred years from now. What five items will you choose and why? What do you want future generations to know about you?

Describe the setting of your room. What is shoved under the bed, hidden in the closet, hung on the walls, and stuffed into drawers?

Jot down a detailed paragraph about the place that makes you happiest.

Describe the place that makes you really nervous!

Picture yourself in the place that makes you most relaxed. Illustrate it in rich details.

Make up a suspenseful tale set in a dark forest.

Create an eerie story set in a school at midnight.

Place yourself in a video arcade on a Saturday afternoon. Capture the excitement in words.

Portray the tension in your classroom during a test or quiz. (Or maybe there is no tension?)

As an inventor, your job is to improve the bicycle as we know it. How would you change it?

You are a millipede in the show store, shopping for new footwear. What kind of shoes do you need? Describe the shopping experience!